Cedi per capita almost doubles in 5 yrs., while dollar terms drops after economy rebasing

Ghana’s economic output per person 2017 has almost doubled after the country’s economy was rebased from 2006 to a new base year of 2013. The GDP per capita in 2017 increased from GHS 4,679 in 2013 to GHS 8,863.

This notwithstanding, in dollar terms the economy witnessed a twist, where in 2013 the output of each Ghanaian was US$ 2, 437 compared to US$ 2, 035 in 2017, after rebasing.

Compared to the old series, Ghana’s economy at current has expanded by 24.6 percent following the rebasing of the economy.

The provisional rebased growth rate for 2017 is 8.1 percent, from 8.4 percent using the old base year.

Rebasing of national accounts series means replacing the old base year used for compiling the constant price estimates to a new and more recent base year.

This has been necessitated in order for Ghana’s statistical computation to meet international recommendation, which requires change in the base year every five years. This takes into consideration, the methodology and coverage of computation, as well as structure of the economy.